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hi I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here for
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the second annual da Awards the time of
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year where I look back over the reviews
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I have done throughout the year and I
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look over what kind of stands out to me
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the reviews that of of products that I
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feel have been exceptional and the
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things that have Stand Out stood out in
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various categor that we'll get to here
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today as I looked back over the various
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reviews that I did I did 108 reviews
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over the course of the year as I look
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back over the course of the year I'm
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looking at a number of different
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categories and so we're going to give
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outwards in these various categories and
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that includes camera there's about eight
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different camera reviews that I did zoom
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lenses of which I did 12 or 13 and a
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variety of different platforms then
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we'll look at budget apsc primes and
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when I Define budget as being $600 or
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less then we'll also look at fullframe
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budget primes again with that under $600
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category we'll also give awards for
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premium prime lenses and that is defined
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as being over $600 and so that can
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include apsc fullframe or medium format
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anything that's in the premium category
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so let's jump into the awards for the
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year our first category is the camera of
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the Year our runner up this year is
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fujifilm's gfx 100s Mark II which really
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brought medium format into into the
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truly budget category where it's
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affordable even for those that typically
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might buy full frame my winner however
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even though it's not new this year it
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was new to me and also I believe that
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it's has become a more competitive
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camera through the process of firmware
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updates and that is Nikon's Z8 this is a
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camera that I have really thoroughly
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enjoyed it is just good at so many
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things and really for the the money I
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think is one of the best value cameras
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on the market I also appreciate the fact
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that as has opened up to third party
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lenses they've done so without really
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any kind of restriction so what I'm
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finding is that a lot of these lenses
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that I've previously tested on Sony for
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example actually like better on Nikon
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because I'm able to get Full Burst
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speeds and also stabilization seems to
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work a little bit better they just seem
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to work a little bit more natively in
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general so loving the camera and I give
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High marks to that our second category
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that we're going to award in is the zoom
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lens of the year I actually have a few
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honorable mentions that I want to
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mention here one is sigma's 28 to 45mm
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f1.8 while it is somewhat of a niche
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lens I also think that it shows that
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Sigma continues to try to push the
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boundaries and to offer up options that
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are not run-of-the-mill and they are
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very unique I also noted that tamron's
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50 to 300 mm VC lens is just a really
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really well executed lens very optically
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sound very high performing did a great
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job however our runner up this this year
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goes to sigma's 28 to 105 mm f2.8 art
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series lens now I recognize that such a
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lens has previously existed on the Canon
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front before but Sigma did something
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quite similar at a much lower price
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point and also much lighter and smaller
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as well however the 2024 da award goes
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to the Sony 28 to 70 mm F2 GM it is just
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an amazingly good lens and they managed
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to do a lens that is just so consistent
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optically all throughout the zoom range
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very very high performing but it's not a
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soulless lens I felt like the rendering
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was still quite good from it and so I
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want to give the award this year to that
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really unique lens our third category is
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in the budget apsc primelens under
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$600 the runner up this year is young
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new's 33mm f1.4 pro I came into 2024 not
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necessarily with an overall positive
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view of Y to them uh some of the early
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lenses that I saw from them tended to
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just be kind of clones cheap clones
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knockoffs of existing Optical formulas
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from Canon for example but yno has
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really started to chart their own course
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and this particular series that they
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call the commander series that this lens
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is from are lenses that are just really
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good they are uh very featur rich they
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have some unique Design Elements to them
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and they're really strong performing
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lenses while still at very much a budget
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price my winner how however this year
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goes to the vro AF 35mm f1.7 this is a
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lens whose review I actually haven't
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released at the time that I'm filming
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this video but will have been released
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by the time that this video goes public
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and this is the most recent of their air
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series lens and I really feel like VTR
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is nailing it with their air series
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creating lenses that are inexpensive
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lightweight which is what the whole air
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is about but also just really really
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good lenses and this is a surprisingly
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good lens that I think is really
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competitive even with I happen to review
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it on Fuji I think that it does a pretty
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decent job of giving the much more
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expensive uh Fuji 35mm
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f1.4 a run for the money and so kudos to
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them for continuing to really push the
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envelope and develop a lot of really
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really excellent lenses and so they get
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the award this year our fourth category
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is budget full-frame prime lenses and so
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to get a good fullframe lens for under
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$600 is uh you know it's not necessarily
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a common thing but we are seeing more
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and more excellent lenses coming in this
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category so I want to acknowledge a
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couple of Runner UPS the first is the
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Siri Aurora 885mm f1.4 it's got a lot of
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attention and I think deservedly so
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because it's a fullframe 885mm f1.4
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prime that you can get for under $500
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right now and that's pretty fantastic
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but there's also another really
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inexpensive 85mm lens that I want to
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acknowledge and that's the S Artis AF 85
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f1.8 this is a lens that can be had for
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around $200 but is surprisingly good
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optically is quite nicely built it just
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performs really quite well and so I
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acknowledging my winner however actually
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goes to a first-party lens and in this
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case it's the Nicor Z 50 millimeter f1.4
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and the reason why it wins the award is
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that it just does everything quite well
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and it is a 50mm f1.4 from one of the
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first-party brands that can be had for
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under $500 that is so rare these days
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and I want to I want to acknowledge
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Nikon in doing this and releasing a a
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lens that I think is desirable on its
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own route right but it is also
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affordable so kudos to them our fifth
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category is in the premium prime lens
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category and again I got a few Runner
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ups that I want to acknowledge it's
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actually a pair of 500 mm lenses one is
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the Sigma 500 mm f5.6 sport which is
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basically the type of lens that a lot of
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us say that we want and while the price
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was a little more expensive than what I
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had hoped for a lens like that it is a
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really high-performing lens and if
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you're looking for a 500 MIM Prime on
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either e Mount or L mount it really is a
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very impressive lens the other is the
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Fuji non GF 500 mm f5.6 that lens is
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very very good optically and while I'm
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not convinced that the G DFX platform is
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quite there in terms of autofocus to
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really make a lens like that sing I
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really have to appreciate Fuji pushing
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out uh medium format into uh areas that
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have kind of previously been Uncharted
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before and if they really want to make
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that platform an alternative to full
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frame I think lenses like this are
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required and it happens to be a really
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really nice lens as well my winner
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however goes to this lens right here
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which is the vro lab 135 mm f1.8
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I have been looking forward to the lab
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series arriving uh vrs kind of released
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the road map and let us know that the
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lab series was coming but vro has been
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doing such a good job in lens designs
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and the idea that this was going to be
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kind of their premium lineup uh came
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with a lot of expectations and this is a
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lens I think that has realized those it
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is extremely featur it is optically
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amazing and the fact that it is so good
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optically and comes at a price tag of
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around 800 bucks is pretty exceptional
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and it's going to compete and does
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compete with lenses that cost much more
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than it and does so very very
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effectively so I also like to award the
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company that I feel like had the best
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year and as I look back over the year
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and the various releases that were there
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I want to give this year's award to the
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company Sigma I think that Sigma kind of
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did the most this year they had creative
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zooms including the 28 to 105 f2.8 the
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28 to 45 mm f1.8 they had great primes
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like the 50mm f1.2 the 15mm f1.4 fishy
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lens and also they were the first to
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bring thirdparty lenses to Canon RFS
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which is great and so I I want to award
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them I also want to say Bravo to all the
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companies that dip their toes into
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autofocus this year lawa seven Artisans
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TT Artisans they really are kind of
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advancing the ball and so
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congratulations to them how about the
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lens that most surprised me this year
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that lens goes to the Nick orz 50mm f1.4
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not because a 50mm f1.4 is a unique or
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surprising lens but rather that this
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lens was released by a first-party
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company to where they went ahead and
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released a lens that is competitively
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priced and really has enough going on in
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all the different departments to be
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desirable on its own Merit I'm just it's
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not a lens I would have been surprised
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by 10 years ago but it's a lens that I
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am surprised by here today particularly
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when there are so many first-party
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lenses that are coming that are just
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always priced so high this is a good
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lens that people can actually afford so
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that's a surprise my most disappointing
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lens of the year and I really hate this
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to be the case because I was
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anticipating it but it is Canon's RF
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35mm f1.4 vcm lens there are things
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about the lens that I really like it's
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got great autofocus it's very sharp but
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it also has a tremendous amount of
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distortion it has some design um FL laws
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or design choices that I just don't
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think make a lot of sense and for a lens
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that cost as much as what it does I was
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just somewhat disappointed by it even
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though I think it's a very good lens and
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if you've bought it I hope that you're
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enjoying it as I look back at what was
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my most popular review of 2024 that
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award goes to a video called a three-way
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comparison between the Fuji um standard
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zooms including the Sigma 18 to 15 mm
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Fuji 16 to 55 mm f2.8 Fuji 18 to 55 mm
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f/2.8 to F4 is shows that there still is
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some legs on the Fuji platform and
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people are definitely interested in that
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what was my least popular review of 2024
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it was for the Aeros Zoom acoustic wedge
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tiles and I released that video towards
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the beginning of of 2024 and it got only
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756 views for the entire year and it
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netted me minus 6 subscribers I didn't
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gain subscribers I lost subscribers over
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that review so you won an award as well
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I did add something this year as well
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and that was the reader Choice Award
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I've done polls on YouTube over the last
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several weeks and so when I gave you the
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option in three different categories you
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came back with the top camera of the
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ones that I had reviewed as the Sony a7c
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and that was by a whisker over the Nikon
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Z8 in the top zoom lens the ward went to
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the Sony 28 to 70 mm F2 and that was
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over the next competing lens was a sigma
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28 to 105 f2.8 the best prime lens
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actually lined up with what I gave the
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award to and it was the vro lab 135mm
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f1.8 but only by 1% over Sony's 85 MIM
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f1.4 gm2 a lens that was really
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excellent but in my mind it was
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incredible in some areas and not
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mindblowing in others and so uh that was
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very closely your favorite as well and
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so there you have it that is the 2024
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Awards it's been a great year of doing
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reviews and I thank you for being a
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great audience so many interesting
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things that I've had the opportunity to
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cover this year and I hope that it's
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been a great photography year for you as
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well here's looking ahead to 2025 hoping
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that the best is yet to come I'm Dustin
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Abbott as always thanks for watching
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have a great day and let the light in
